It’s Sunday again, and time for Weekend Writing Warriors, a blog hop where a number of authors post up to eight sentences from our writing, published or unpublished. Click on the logo above to get to the list of authors. The one at the bottom gives a facebook page with more authors.
My snippet this week is again from War’s End, the story I’ve been giving excerpts from for some time. A group of five adult Humans, a baby and an alien have suddenly found themselves on an alien, hot, unfamiliar jungle planet. The pilot of the ship they were on, Kelty, is summarizing their abilities, and he has just asked the oldest of the group, Madam Irela, what she can do. We are in the point of view of Coralie, the mother of the baby.
“Politics and diplomacy,” the old woman sighed. “I’d probably be of most use as a baby sitter and cook, assuming we can find something safe to eat. And I still want to know what happened. I certainly was not expecting this when I agreed to represent my continent!”
“Immediate priority’s survival,” Kelty said. “Coralie, for right now I think that puts you in charge. What do we do first?”
Coralie stared at him for a minute.
The last thing Coralie was expecting was to be put in charge, though in fact she has been in acting charge for some time.
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Poor Coralie, although she’s already proved she’s more than capable.
She’s not used to giving orders, though. (Except to children, when she was a schoolteacher.)
Uh oh, Coralie better think of something LOL. I have confidence in her too! Another excellent excerpt!
She’ll have other things on her mind shortly.
I like that Madame Irela isn’t trying to take over the group—all of them seem to have a great grasp of their skills and limitations. That’s so refreshing!
In a way they’re a highly selected group, even if the one who selected them is (for the moment) out of the picture.
Love that she’s surprised by their faith in her. Like her already.
She’s a pretty level headed woman.
Oh boy, a baby and the whole shebang to handle? Talk about a tough situation and a lot of priorities to juggle.
Right. And the baby’s going to have her “say” pretty soon.
It’s good that they seem to be a pragmatic group and are not jockeying for control. Good snippet.
Most of the others see how helpless they are and are glad to offload the responsibility.
It’s good that Madame Irela isn’t trying to shirk duties. Her two suggestions are incredibly practical. I’m sure Coralie will step up to being in charge.
Probably helps that she’s a diplomat from a relatively primitive planet.
I think she will rise to the challenge.
She’s better!
Nothing like being drafted into the leadership role! But usually the drafters call it right.
She certainly has more survival experience than any of the others.
I think Coralie is up to the task!
So do I, but she’s going to be one busy woman.
I’m doing the A to Z Challenge, too. I’ll have to stop by tomorrow for M is for… 🙂
Good choice for her to be in charge, but the baby is also a handful. Glad to know the old woman can babysit. Such an interesting story!
Wait til next week.
Ooooo poor Coralie–now officially in charge but it does show rationality on the part of the others. Nice job.
She’s going to be busy!
Step by step, logical and methodical–the way to survive in such a situation. 🙂 Good post, Sue Ann! 🙂
They have a surprise coming up.
I like the way they are able to work together. I also like her modesty. Nice not to have everyone grasping for leadership.
In this case, none of them really wants the job.